The Heart Brings You Back
by unprettier
Summary: Seth Rollins and Renee Young mull over their respective breakups. Oneshot.


**Author's Note:** I recently wrote a sidequel to this fic called " _Hate Is Safer Than Love_ " which focuses on the same story but from Dean and Roman's POV. If you're interested you can find it on my bio page. Thanks for reading!

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Seth Rollins stuck his nose above the mug in his hand, inhaling its strong contents. It was alcohol of some kind. At this point he didn't care which kind. Or what it tasted like. Or what it smelled like. He just wanted to drink it until he was completely incapable of comprehending anything anymore.

The blonde sitting across from him was trying to do the same. She was holding a beer but the bottle was empty by the time Seth recognized it as such. He didn't stop her from grabbing another one. Maybe he should've but his moral code was the last thing on his mind at the moment. Even though they both knew this was the worst way either of them could deal with their personal problems, they sat there downing one after another anyway. And with no end in sight.

It was a Wednesday, the day after a Smackdown taping, two days after his personal life went to hell, and about a week since her's took a turn for the worse. Unfortunately for them, work wasn't an escape. Work was the problem. In both cases. Perhaps they should've listened to everyone who ever told them ' _Don't shit where you eat_.' But of course they didn't. But then no one else in the WWE did either.

Renee placed her third empty beer bottle on the table. This was ridiculous. She couldn't feel a damn thing and not in the way she was hoping. It was all feelings and no high. Not even a buzz. Maybe it was time for some straight up liquor.

"Shots!" she said, holding up a few dollar bills, and the bartender was as quick as she'd ever seen one be. Within seconds, the money in her hands was gone and the table was covered in shot glasses. Filled to the very tip.

Seth grinned as she held up a glass and waited him for take one of his own.

"Here's to our pathetic, miserable lives," he said, clinking the glass to her's.

"I'll drink to that!"

They threw back their shots and then slammed the empty glasses onto the table. Seth was a split second too late. So he took another shot as punishment even though they had never verbally announced they were playing this little game.

It continued that way until the table was littered with empty glasses and then it was right back to the silent wallowing.

Renee started on her fourth beer. If she could at least get that conversation at the airport out of her mind, she would be fine. She could deal with the fallout; the anger, the bitterness, the heartbreak. But replaying that scene over and over in her mind was almost too painful to take. It _was_ too painful to take.

"Renee, don't cry."

She hadn't even realized she was doing so until Seth said that. And boy was it embarrassing. She was being such a girl, crying over a breakup. Seth was in the same boat as her and he wasn't crying. Hell, he was humiliated online too! She couldn't imagine what she would have done if she had to go through what he went through. She was lucky in comparison. So then why did she feel so bad?

She buried her face into her hands as the tears continued and Seth pulled her into a hug. She didn't know it but he was kind of jealous that she was breaking down like this. He wished he could've. He probably would've felt a lot better. But he just physically couldn't do it. It wasn't even because of the "men don't cry" thing. He just wasn't at that point yet. Or maybe everything was just too overwhelming. All he could manage to do was mope. He didn't even have it in him to be angry and there was certainly plenty for him to be angry about. Sure, he fucked up royally but the lengths his ex-fiancee took to get back at him were way too far.

"I just don't understand how he could leave me there," Renee cried into Seth's chest, having completely given up on maintaining her "totally fine and not at all broken" demeanor. "He just left me at the airport alone."

Ambrose breaking up with Renee — for no reason other than his own insecurities — was a dick move in and of itself. Leaving her at the airport when she thought she was heading back to Vegas with him was a whole other level. Not that Seth had any room to talk about being a jerk. It was his fault his personal life was a nightmare now. Renee didn't have a choice with her's but he certainly did.

"He's fucked up. We all are."

He felt bad for not even attempting to say something to make her feel better but at this point he had nothing. He was the last person to be giving advice right now anyway. But then they weren't there to give each other advice. They were there to drink until they forgot their own names.

Once she had managed to calm down a little, Seth handed her the fourth bottle of beer she had started on earlier.

"Thanks," she said, rubbing her face until it was dry.

It was silent again after that but this time they weren't staring off into space or into their glasses or at the floor. They were looking right at each other. Neither of them even had any time to process what was happening when she leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips.

It was soft, innocent. Unlike most lip locks that happened under the influence.

"Renee," said Seth as their lips parted, "we can't do this."

He was right but that didn't make things any easier. It also didn't make her feel any less embarrassed. Sure, it wasn't a "naked pictures on the internet" level of embarrassment but it was still pretty humiliating. For so many reasons. Seth was Dean's friend, he was her friend, she didn't have any feelings or attraction towards him, and he likely didn't either. But she was drunk and hurting and he was being nice. Those were plenty of reasons to do something stupid, right?

Luckily for Renee, Seth refused to take advantage of her and she knew right then that he was a good person despite the public's current opinion of him.

"Look, I know things suck right now but you guys still have a chance. You can't give up on that."

Seth sighed. He wished he had the luxury of fighting for his personal life but he knew the damage had already been done. There was too much said and done from both parties, even the third party, to even attempt to patch things up. Maybe one day but not any time soon.

"I don't think there's any hope for me," he continued, "But if you guys can't make it work then there's no hope for anyone."

Renee managed to crack a smile at that and that was enough for him.

"Atta girl," he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed gently. "You and Ambrose? That's true love. Everyone knows it."

Renee shook her head. "He doesn't."

"He does," Seth insisted and he didn't need to be inside Ambrose's head to know that. It was written all over his face about how much he loved and cared for Renee. "He's just doing his self hatred bullshit shtick right now. But eventually he'll realize it and you guys will be just fine."

She exhaled sharply. She wasn't sure if she believed that but he was being pretty damn convincing at the moment. She certainly needed to believe it though. The pain in her chest was going to cause her to pass out if she didn't hold onto some small sliver of hope.

"What about you? You made some pretty bad choices," she admitted and he nodded in agreement. At least he was honest about his mistakes. That was more than most people would be. "But you deserve to be happy."

Seth didn't thank Renee for that comment but then again he didn't need to. The look on his face was enough. It was the first genuine smile she'd seen from him in two days and it felt pretty damn good that she was the one who was able to give it to him.

"Well, so much for our mopey night out. We weren't supposed to actually make each other feel better."

"But we did. And without having drunken sex we'd regret the next morning!" Seth raised his hand for a high five and Renee reciprocated the gesture. "I'd say this was a victory."

She threw a few dollar bills on the table as a tip and then grabbed her coat that hung on the back of her chair.

"Come on," she said, "I think there's a Waffle House around here with my name written all over it."

"Coffee," he groaned loudly with relief as they made their way towards the exit. "But first..."

Seth tossed his phone at her and, luckily for his wallet, her clumsiness didn't get the better of her because she caught it. He didn't even have to tell her what he wanted her to do with it. She already knew. But she was very hesitant to do it. There was no guarantee Dean would answer her call. But there was certainly a guarantee Seth wasn't going to leave her alone until she did it.

"Call him," Seth insisted before she could object. "And hurry it up, will ya? Waffle House is waiting!"

Renee laughed as she watched him skip towards his car and then again looked down at the phone in her hands. She scrolled through Seth's contacts until she found Dean — which wasn't hard because he was at the very top under Ambrose — and stopped. And she must've been standing there staring for a few minutes at least because Seth was already blowing the horn at her.

With a long inhale and then exhale, Renee pressed the Call button. Ambrose answered.


End file.
